MOBILE, Alabama — Christopher Noerr, 23, began drawing at a young age and when he attended Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Ga., he decided to become an illustrator.

“It was something I think I always wanted to do,” Noerr said. “There’s a Pablo Picasso quote that says, ‘Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist when he grows up.’ Like every child, I was an artist, but I didn’t want to grow out of it.

“I enjoy that I’m 23 and I play. I’m always going to have a sense of play to me.”

Most of Noerr’s illustrations, which he called “kids’-book-esque,” were created with watercolor and ink.

“It’s like a marriage,” Noerr said. “I’ve learned how it reacts, how the pigment spreads when married. I really like that, so ink and water media are most of what I do.”

He described his pieces as positive, full of warmth and ideas of the mythic, Gothic South.

“When possible, I put a little humor in there as well,” Noerr said. “I really like creating a different environment in my work. One lady at my show said it sort of takes you to a different place. It puts you in a different space for a little bit. For me, that’s the biggest compliment.”

View full sizeThis portrait of Jules Verne is one of Christopher Noerr's series of portraits of classic authors. (Courtesy of Christopher Noerr)

While Noerr considers himself an illustrator, he prefers not to assign labels to himself or his work.

“It’s sort of a mistake to think you cannot be interdisciplinary,” Noerr said. “Are you a painter or a sculptor? Usually the two are not entirely independent of each other. It’s all just a matter of the time you give to it. In this age, you can learn anything you want because of the Internet.

“I’m still very much an illustrator, but there might be an ‘and’ in that sentence. Hopefully, there will be several more ‘ands’ down the road.”

In addition to art, Noerr said the three biggest influences in his life are “coffee, music and stories. It’s absolutely fair to say I actually enjoy music much more than I do visual art. I just happen to do visual art much better.”

Noerr, a self-described nerd with regard to music, said he likes “finding the newest, freshest music out there” and learning about the history of music.

“There’s something in every single genre that I love,” Noerr said. “There are good old country artists that are fantastic. At the same time, one of my favorite bands is Animal Collective. They’re real experimental. My favorite piece of music ever is Bach’s Cello Concerto.”

For several years, Noerr has worked at coffee shops and said making coffee “reminds me of what I thought being a chemist was when I was a little kid.”

As for stories, Noerr enjoys storytelling media from novels to television and films. One of his favorite novels is “The Time Machine” by H.G. Wells.

“I like a lot of traditional literature, the classics,” Noerr said. “I did a series of portraits of classic authors that included Jules Verne, H.G. Wells and Rudyard Kipling.”

Noerr sees art as a form of service and a channel for education.

“I do recognize that art and artists are in service positions,” he said. “Art is not for me. If I am doing it correctly, it enables and encourages culture in such a dramatic way.

“Whether or not I’m getting paid as a teacher, if I am doing art correctly I am an educator. If I educate people to slow down long enough to be in a different environment, it’s such a natural form of education because they’re learning through the vehicle of pure feeling.”

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This story was written by Christie Lovvorn, Press-Register Correspondent.